Kay Jarrett

New Jewelry current shown at our gallery

Bio

I began making  jewelry from beads I started
collecting many, many years ago while on a trip to  the southwest.  We ended up  in Santa Fe, and I was hooked!   I fell in love with  southwestern art and  beaded jewelry.    Early o n I made pieces from beads I  collected in that  region – seed beads, turquoise, some trade beads, silver,  etc.   

I love color,  texture and design - having at one time majored in graphic  design.  In recent
years I have become much more involved in jewelry making.   I’ve been inspired  by many artists working in metalwork,  wirework, PMC  (precious metal clay),  off-loom bead weaving and beaded embroidery –  and have  taken classes from some  of the masters.  Some  might (and do) say I’m obsessed! 

My  jewelry is an eclectic combination  of metalwork, wirework, woven components of  fiber and metal, off-loom bead  weaving - with some lampwork (mostly  one-of-a-kind), and a few African trade  beads.   I typically do not plan the whole design before I start – it just sort of happens as I go along.   I work in copper and silver - mostly copper lately.  Each piece is  unique – I never repeat a design, although  there may be similarities between  pieces.  I torch, hammer, rivet, fold,  hammer,  punch, stitch, hammer, oxidize  - and just about all but jump up and  down on the piece - to get the patina or  finish I want -  because I prefer the ‘aged’ or organic look.  

I love making each  piece!